29 May 2010

Getting DC Comics' Titans: Villains For Hire Special on the comicsblog is proving to be more of a challenge than we thought. Never fear, dabblers, it's up next. Before we get to the comics and the controversy, though, we take a time-out to pay our respects to Gary Coleman, who passed away at the age of 42 on Friday from a brain hemorrhage. [infolink]

Aside from being the guy who almost - almost - tempted us to make a Cash Call, we'll remember Coleman not for his child actor's star or how it fell or even any of the punchlines, but because he, along with 135 other candidates, ranin our home state's wacky recall election to replace our then-governor, Gray Davis. Many people probably aren't even aware Coleman's political moment, but when you vote in an election like that, it's a sort of craziness that's tough to forget.

Long story short, Coleman didn't win -- Arnold Schwarzenegger did. Looking back, it's pretty clear that he wasn't expecting or wanting to, either. As he placed eighth in the election, with 12,488 votes (0.2 percent), that's probably a good thing. He wasn't unrealistic, and he wasn't trying to get to Sacramento. But he did run with intention. Gary Coleman just needed, once again, to try something different for himself. In that, at least, there's a lesson for us all.